The Dow Jones was up 1.4%, the S&P 500 gained 2.5% and the Nasdaq added 3.3% last week, all notching their best performances since earlier in the Summer. Inflation looks to be heading in the right direction and overall economic growth looks strong. Although, there are signs that the economy might just be starting to slow, such as 1.) the unemployment rate ticking higher to 3.8% and 2.) average hourly rate not growing as much as economist expectations. Will these poor data points help the Federal Reserve decide to be done with interest rate increases? We will need to wait until September 20th for more insights, which is the next meeting that the Federal Reserve will hold to decide on what to do with interest rates.
Economic reports from last week came back mostly positive:
•Manufacturing (Dallas) - higher than expectation
•Job Openings - lower than expectation
•Single-Family Home Values - higher than expectation
•Pending Home Sales - higher than expectation
•Private Employment - lower than expectation
•Total Employment - higher than expectation
•Construction Spending - higher than expectation
•Jobless Claims - lower than expectation
In a holiday-shortened week, investors will look for guidance from economic reports like Labor Productivity, Consumer Credit and Jobless Claims.